Where the Blame Falls
by Zaidie
Summary: As the youngest, least experienced CSI on the scene the blame falls on Greg, however, despite being overwhlemed and overtired, he is sure he did nothing wrong. However as the case unfolds things just get worse for the young CSI. COMPLETED.
1. Overtime, Overtired

Disclaimer: I don't own CSI, any of ther characters or plot lines. I do own my own ideas, and thats about it.

Zai: This is my first attempt at a non-oneshot CSI fic. I think I have it mostly planned out, so I'll try to update frequently. This story is set around season 5, when the team is split up and Greg just passed his field test. No pairings planned, main focus is on Greg. So anyway, please read and review!

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The former lab tech, Greg Sanders poured himself a cup of coffee from the break room. Since he had made it from his personal stash of Blue Hawaiian, it was drinkable, unlike the horrible brand the lab bought. He sat down at the table to drink his coffee, although he knew he really should not be having another cup so close to the end of shift. He would never manage to fall asleep once he got home. On the other hand, he was pretty sure he would fall asleep at the wheel, on the way home, without it.

He had only been in the field a relatively short time, having only just passed his final proficiency test, and already the young CSI was feeling the effects of long overtime hours. He had worked overtime, occasionally, in the lab, but in the lab the work was far less demanding, and overtime only happened when they were really swamped. He was really looking forward to ending a shift on time, for once.

However, the graveyard shift's newest CSI's, hopes where soon dashed as the greying head of his supervisor, Gil Grissom appeared around the break room door. "We've got a case, Greg." He said holding up a slip of paper. Grissom looked tired as well, but not nearly as much as Greg did.

"Can't day-shift take it?" Greg queried, after all shift was due to change within the hour. Calling the next shift early was quite standard.

"4 db's" Grissom explained already turning to leave, "Someone from day shift will meet us there."

Greg sighed and quickly downed as much of his remaining coffee as he could, before he got up and followed his colleague and mentor. _What a way to end a day_, he mused, _Or make that start a day_. He thought, correcting himself as he stepped outside into the early morning light. A multiple death scene meant they were going to be there for quite some time.

The address on the call brought them to a very typical looking high school, painted an off-white with blue trims. Visible out behind the school was a large oval running track, surrounded by a grassy field. To the other side of the main building Greg noted there was a small portable. It looked oddly familiar to Greg, and he figured it must have a similar layout to his old high school.

Heading toward the main entrance, Greg sighed. He knew he would never get used to seeing the victims. Especially when they were just kids. Detective Jim Brass was waiting for them just inside, by the main office. Thankfully, school was not yet in session and there were only a few people milling about, mostly teachers, all who had been ushered outside and waiting awkwardly on the school's cement pathway.

"The bodies are in the male locker room," Brass explained as he lead the way toward the gymnasium. "They were at school early, training for a track meet. Four man relay race."

Completely unprepared for the scene that awaited them Greg stopped short in the doorway. Very little of the standard locker room remained untouched. Debris scattered clear across the room. Along the far wall a row of blackened lockers looked like the possible source of the explosion as they seemed to bear the brunt of the damage.

Not that Greg was very knowledgeable on explosives, he had never actually worked a bombing. He had never wanted to either, and the vivid images that flashed through his mind as he took in the sights and strong burning smell from the scene reminded him why.

_Everything happened at once. The loud noise, the sensation of flying as he was thrown back and worst of all, the pain. The smell of burning flesh filled his nostrils, and he was vaguely aware that it was his flesh. People where shouting things, but his ears were ringing and he could not understand what the voices around him were saying. _

_Then he was being placed on a stretcher and he was off the ground. The stretcher lurched forward down the long hall. He felt the medics checking his vitals. All around him the scattered debris of the lab lay haphazardly covering the floor. He closed his eyes against the sight, but he could still see the destruction around him in his mind. He still did not understand what was happening._

Shaking his head Greg forced himself to step into the locker room. Feeling his hands tremble slightly at the vivid memory, he shoved them in his pockets as he surveyed the scene. "Where should I start?" he asked Grissom forcing his voice to remain level. He did not want his supervisor to know how easily he was shaken up from an incident that occurred almost two years previously.

"Start bagging pieces, we've got to find and reconstruct the bomb," Grissom said as he walked over to talk with David who was examining one of the bodies, pretending not to notice the distress of his brown-blonde-haired co-worker. He trusted Greg to process the scene despite his past experiences.

Greg pulled on a pair of gloves and began near the most damaged lockers. The lockers where only half height, and were stacked two high, as a result. Greg thought it looked like the bomb had been in a lower locker. He bent down and examined the unhinged door of a blacked locker.

He had just started his evidence collection, when the day-shift CSI arrived. He had short sandy-blonde hair that curled in gentle waves, and he was a fair bit taller then Greg. His eyes were a dark green and he looked rather awake, Greg noted, still longing for the sleep he was currently being denied. He was now quite glad for the extra caffiene boost he had managed to grab back at the lab.

Having never before worked with the man, Greg introduced himself. But did not offer his hand as it was gloved and already turning black from sifting through the bomb debris.

"I'm Nolan Fairer," The man replied politely. He appeared to be in his mid-thirties and Greg suspected he had a lot more experience than himself. "Where do you want me?" The fair-haired asked, clearly speaking to Grissom and not to Greg.

Grissom looked up from where he was crouched beside one of the victims, "Help Greg with the collection over there for starters." He said before turning back to ask David something about the body.

Nolan nodded and bent down next to Greg. He glanced at the younger man with the slightly unusual hair-do and noticed how pale he appeared. "You okay?" He asked quietly.

Greg supposed that he was just being nice, but it felt almost as if the older CSI was intruding on his privacy. "Just a little tired," Greg muttered darkly, deciding he was just upset that his upset at the scene was so clearly visible, especially to someone who did not even know him. Which meant Grissom had most definitely noticed how much the scene disturbed him, Greg noted unhappily.

Working in silence now, the two CSI's proceeded to move outwards, away from each other, towards the ends of the lockers, photographing, documenting and bagging the smallest of bomb fragments. It was tedious work, but by focussing his attention on the individual pieces and not on the crime scene as a whole, Greg was less reminded of the lab explosion.

Several times he thought he caught Nolan shooting curious looks his way. He tried to ignore the other man shifted slightly so he was facing away from the day-shift CSI. It had been a long time ago, and Greg was rather embarrassed that it bothered him so badly.

Greg neared the last locker in the row, the damage was less noticeable here. However, just under the charred bench, a small piece that looked like it might have been part of a timer, caught Greg's eye. He crouched down and photograph it, before carefully picking up the piece.

It was strange how the actual bomb pieces survived the explosion, Greg mused tiredly. Especially since when he had picked up a few of the pieces, they had looked rather delicate. Not like something he would expect to survive being at the centre of an explosion. Absorbed in his own work he did not notice as, at the far end of the lockers, Nolan Fairer swore softly under his breath and slipped something small into his vest pocket.

It was several hours later by the time the three CSI's had finished processing the scene. Gathering all the collected evidence they returned to the lab to log it. Grissom left the two younger CSI's to sort through their collections. By the time Nolan and Greg were finished logging the evidence, so they could resume work next shift, Greg was ready to fall asleep on the spot.

"At least your shift's over now," Nolan commented lightly as he watched Greg struggle to keep his eyes open. Taking his deep green eyes off the sleepy young man, Nolan carefully placed both their photos together in a folder and closed it for the graveyard shift to continue the next night.

"Yeah," the younger man mumbled glad that he was finally able to call it quits for the shift, but slightly put off by the fact that both Sara and Sophia had been off for hours. After a quick stop in the locker room he headed out to his car. Throwing his kit in his backseat he drove straight home, to his apartment, where he collapsed in bed still dressed, barely managing to kick only his shoes off before he tanked.


	2. Missing Part

Disclaimer: I don't own CSI, any of ther characters or plot lines. I do own my own ideas, and thats about it.

Zai: Thanks for the reviews! Hope you enjoy this chapter as well!

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It was the sudden blaring of his alarm clock that jolted Greg from his deep slumber. He slowly realized that after the extended and exhausting shift he had slept the entire day, he was now glad that he always kept his alarm set. Kicking off the sheet, that he must have wrapped around himself sometime during his sleep, Greg got up and headed drowsily into the bathroom.

Ignoring the sudden cold of the tiles beneath his feet, Greg went straight into the shower, tossing the previous day's clothes in a pile on the floor. He turned on the pulsing water allowing it to help wake him up, and wash out the flaking hair gel that had hardened while he slept. He mentally reminded himself not to go to bed without washing it out of his hair ever again.

Within half an hour, Greg was dressed and made his way into the kitchen. His growling stomach informed him that he had missed at least two meals that day. However since he lived opposite most of the world, he was not really sure which two.

Scrounging up some dinner-breakfast that could be cooked in the microwave Greg popped it in for the required time. Before sitting down at the small kitchen table he cleared off an old paper to make some room for him to eat.

He really needed to clean his place up, he decided absently. He was always so organized at the lab, and he used to be more organized at home too, but now that he was practically living at work, things had gotten a little out of place. Not that Greg was a perfectionist, but the mess in his apartment was really starting to bother him.

After downing the food, Greg tidied up slightly before he headed out for what was undoubtedly going to be another long shift. The night lights of Vegas were on full as Greg Sanders arrived at the crime lab's parking lot.

Before starting his shift, Greg stopped by the locker room. There, he found one of his former team members, Nick Stokes, getting ready to head after his just ending shift.

"Hey, Greg." Nick said greeting the younger man with his mild Texan drawl.

"Hey," Greg replied back. "You getting used to the new hours yet?" He asked, although he doubted very much that the Texan had, he was not even used to them not working together anymore. Not that he minded Sophia, but he really did hate not seeing his three friends who were now working the swing-shift.

"Nope." Nick muttered darkly. He seemed rather alert now, but then his body was convinced that his shift should be just starting. Greg was willing to bet that Nick had been dead tired at the beginning of shift.

Closing his locker, Nick looked over at his younger friend, "I heard you're working a bombing." He said, carefully watching as Greg paled slightly. "You managing all right?" he added quietly. The entire graveyard shift had been close, and even though Greg had been the latest addition to the team, Nick could still guess how the spunky young man would be reminded off the lab explosion.

Greg simply nodded, it always surprised him how easily Nick could read him. Nick rested his hand momentarily on the shoulder of his favourite ex-lab rat, "You know, I'm around if you need me." He said as he headed out of the locker room.

Realizing his shift was starting, Greg quickly finished in his locker and dashed out into the hall where he narrowly missed hitting Hodges. Up ahead he saw Grissom and muttering a brief apology to Hodges, he hurried to catch up with his supervisor.

"So were do we start tonight?"Greg asked in his usual over-perky manner.

"You get to start to try to re-assemble the bomb." Grissom replied, "Sophia is on a case but Sara will help you," he added seeing the stunned look on the younger CSI's face. "I'll be in the morgue. Although, in cases like this, the bodies don't have much to offer the case. Usually identifying the components of the bomb is what helps the most." With that said, Grissom turned and headed off leaving Greg standing alone in the hallway.

He had never even seen a bomb, how was he supposed to put one back together? With a sigh Greg spun on his heels and headed off to the evidence room.

He found Sara already in the process of spreading the many collected pieces, and their corresponding pictures, across the large luminous table. He came up beside her and stared at all the evidence bags, each containing a small object, which when all placed together had made a lethal weapon that had tragically cut short the life of four teenaged boys.

"Hi Greg." Sara said, not looking up from the table. "You here to help?"

"Yeah." Greg replied, slowly walking around to the far side of the table where more pieces were. He stared blankly at the disassembled pieces before looking up at the brunette across the table. "Hey Sara?"

"Yeah?"

"I have no idea what I'm doing." The young CSI admitted.

Sara grinned and moved aside to let Greg see what she had done so far. She had just started to explain how certain parts of the bomb worked when Brass interrupted from the doorway.

"So your working this now too?" He asked Sara who nodded in response. "Well I haven't got much for you yet, but I've only talked to a few teachers so far."

"Well Griss is checking out the bodies now," Sara said filling Brass in on their end. "Greg and I are starting to sort out the debris here." She added gesturing to the spread of pieces on the table before them.

"I've got a few more teachers to talk to in the morning," Brass said glancing at his watch, "Hopefully I can turn out a suspect for you to try and match that bomb to."

"You know where to find us." Sara called as Brass turned to exit, leaving the two CSI's to figure out the evidence part of the investigation.

"So do these go together?" Her young spike-haired colleague asked holding up two similarly shaped pieces.

"Probably," Sara replied as Greg handed her the parts, "They look like they could be part of a timer."

"So if the bomb was on a time-delay, how long before it went off could it have been planted?"

"Well, different timers have different limits," She explained, "If we can figure out what kind of clock this one came from, we might be able to figure out about how long the bomb was there."

Greg nodded as he went back around the table. The two CSI's worked in an intermittent silence, broken whenever Greg had another question. Sara did not mind explaining things to the eager to learn CSI level one. She admired how enthusiastic Greg was about learning to work in the field.

After some time, they had figured out most of the bomb's structure, and Sara could guess at most of the components. However, she still did not have the actual triggering piece. She remembered glancing at a picture that could have been a possible trigger she went back to the pile of pictures that now rested at one edge of the table.

Finding the picture she had been looking for she held it out toward Greg, "Greg?" She asked. "Do you see this piece over there?"

Carefully Greg examined the pieces around him, but found none that seemed to match the picture, "No, why?"

"I think it might be the triggering-part," the tall brunette explained slowly, "And I can't find it anywhere."


	3. Lost

Disclaimer: I don't own CSI, any of ther characters or plot lines. I do own my own ideas, and thats about it.

Zai: Thanks again for the reviews, I'm glad you're enjoying my story thus far.

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Sara swiftly brushed her dark brown hair behind her ear absently and glanced at the young CSI standing beside her with concern. "It's not in here Greg." She said slowly, looking at the now emptied evidence locker. They had spent the better part of an hour carefully removing every shred of evidence searching for the missing trigger-piece, to no avail.

"I noticed." Greg mumbled, worry clearly evident in his usually carefree voice. He leaned back against the wall behind him, "I'm sure I logged all my pieces." He had been so sure they would find it here, thinking it had just slipped out the case box.

"Maybe Fairer knows something about it. He helped you collect evidence at the scene right?" Sara asked trying to sound reassuring. Missing evidence was a very serious problem, especially if she was right about this being the trigger, it was almost imperative that they have it. If they lost the case because of the lab losing evidence, Ecklie would not rest until he held someone accountable, and with Ecklie it did not always matter if the accountable one was responsible.

"Yeah," the young duel-haired man said hopefully, "He won't be in for awhile though." He added glancing at his watch knowing that Nolan would not arrive until much later in the morning.

Sara sighed, "I'll see if I can get him to come in early." She said turning to leave, "You'd better get started at putting all that back." She added gesturing to all the carefully logged evidence they had moved out of the locker in their search.

"Right." Greg said blankly as Sara left him in the room alone, they did not need to lose someone else's evidence as well. Methodically Greg replaced each of the containers. It baffled him endlessly that this piece could be missing. He always did things in the same order, he really could not imagine how the evidence could have gone missing between his photographing it and their shift tonight.

The more he thought about it, he did not even remember the picture exactly, making him wonder if Nolan Fairer had collected it. In which case, it was not his fault at all. Still Greg could not shake the lingering feeling that maybe he had screwed up somehow. He was new to the field. Not that his inexperience was an excuse, he knew what he was doing, or else Grissom would not have let him in the field.

After replacing everything in the evidence locker Greg sank wearily into a nearby chair. If Nolan could not shed any light on the situation, they would have to tell Grissom about the missing evidence. Greg was not looking forward to that particular conversation with his supervisor.

- - - - - -

Sara was standing by the front desk in reception, she had called Fairer and asked him to come in asap. He had not sounded pleased, but Sara did not care. If they could clear all this up without bringing in their supervisors it would be better for all involved. She knew as well as anyone, that now especially, was not the time for Ecklie to find out something like this had happened on grave-shift. He had already dismantled the former team, Sara tried not to think who he would try to rail road for the missing evidence.

It did not take much to figure out that Ecklie would go for the night-shift level one over the day's level two. Even without the experience difference, Sara knew how Ecklie disliked Grissom and his team. She did not want that to happen to Greg. Their team was, _had been_, a close knit family. Greg was like a baby brother to her. And she still did not believe Greg could have screwed up like this.

It was not long before the tall, fair CSI appeared in the doorway. His tousled blonde hair seemed to indicate that he had just rolled out of bed, and his tired expression seem to confirm it. Sara momentarily felt sorry for the man, knowing how hard it was to be dragged in before shift. Regardless she did not waste anytime on preamble. "Fairer," she greeted him curtly handing him the photograph, "Do you remember processing this piece?"

Training his deep green eyes on the photograph handed to him, Nolan's brow furrowed in concentration. It took him several moments before he looked back up at the anxious brunette before him , "No, Sorry, I don't remember it. I don't think it was mine." He told her simply as he handed it back, "Why?" he added nonchalantly after a short pause.

"Greg and I were putting together the bomb, and we can't find it anywhere." Sara explained.

"Did Sanders say it wasn't his?" Nolan asked slowly.

"He says it could be his, he can't remember."

"Did you check the locker? Maybe it just dropped." Nolan suggested helpfully but when Sara shook his head he knew they had already torn the lab apart in their search. "Maybe Sanders forgot to bag it." He suggested this quieter, as though not wanting to be overheard, "He seemed distracted at the scene... maybe it's still there, you could check." He finished with a slight shrug of his broad shoulders.

Sara looked at the fair-headed criminologist skeptically, she knew Greg could come off as a little flaky sometimes, but she did not see what basis Nolan had to accuse Greg of sloppy evidence collection. Regardless, she supposed he had a point, they should check the scene, just in case. But for that they would have to tell Grissom.

"Well, thanks anyway." She said turning away.

"Sidle?" He called after her causing her to pause and half turn back towards him, "Have you told your supervisor yet?" He asked.

She sighed, "I'm on my way now."

"Ecklie is going to want to know about this." He stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

"I'll leave that up to Grissom." She said as she took off down the hallway, leaving Fairer alone in reception. She wondered if Nolan was going to go over them to Ecklie, but she decided she could not really worry about that. They had to tell Grissom now, and if Ecklie found out... well, they would cross that bridge if they came to it.

Popping her head into the evidence room she found Greg sitting and staring blankly into the now refilled locker. "Nolan said he didn't collect it." Sara said bluntly causing Greg to look up, "Let's go talk to Griss."

Greg nodded sullenly and got up to follow her to their supervisor's office. The door was shut so Sara knocked on it lightly. Beside her Greg fidgeted. On good days he felt nervous around the vastly experienced entomologist, and this conversation was not going to be a good one. She knew Greg was new to the field, but as far as she'd seen, the young CSI was taking to his new field duties well. She could not believe it possible he misplaced evidence. It was not like the Greg she knew.

"Come in." Grissom's voice called from inside. Sara opened the door and her and Greg walked into the office. Greg let his eyes wander around looking at the strange collection of bugs that Grissom kept around the office, unable to look at his mentor. Grissom looked up from his computer screen, as the two brown haired CSI's stopped in front of his desk. "What can I help you with?" He asked noting Greg's distracted appearance and Sara's anxious one.

"Griss, we have a problem." Sara said holding the picture out for him, "This is a picture from the scene yesterday." She said explaining rapidly, "But we can't find the piece anywhere."

"You lost evidence?" He questioned carefully, looking closely at the uncharacteristically silent man to Sara's side.

"We don't know, we've checked the lab," Sara said and then added, "Thoroughly."

Grissom pinched the bridge of his nose absently, "Who took the picture?" He asked quietly although he already had a good idea of the answer he was going to get.

"I did." Greg muttered quietly, "Well, I don't remember it exactly, but Fairer said it wasn't him, so..." Greg said letting his sentence trail off as he fixed his gaze on the desk in front of him. He did not want to see disappointment In his boss's eyes.

"And you're sure it never made it to the lab?" When his two subordinates shook their heads he sighed and leaned back in his chair. "The scene hasn't been released, go back and cover ever inch of that locker room." Grissom instructed them. He knew as well as they did what could happen if they did not find this part. It was not even just the case at risk, it was his most junior CSI's career.

"Right." Greg said as he turned to leave. When he had been waiting for Sara to talk to Fairer, he had kept telling himself, that he had not messed up, that he had been able to handle a crime scene. Now he was not so sure. Sara had said the Fairer sounded really certain that he had not seen the piece. That could only mean one thing, he, Greg Sanders, had screwed up.


	4. Simply Gone

Disclaimer: I don't own CSI, any of ther characters or plot lines. I do own my own ideas, and thats about it.

Zai: Thanks to everone who reviewed, and to those who read and didn't review too. Here's the next chapter, enjoy.

- - - - - -

Sara parked in the deserted parking lot behind the standard-looking high school. Greg grabbed his kit out of the back and followed her toward the school.

It was too early for the two criminologists to have to worry about anyone else being around. They let themselves in the main entrance. The hall lighting was off, but the light coming in from the early morning sunrise allowed them to make their way the short distance to the gymnasium.

Off to the side of the locked up office, a memorial display that had already been set up for the four deceased boys caught Greg's eye. He could see a framed picture of the four sitting on a small table, and judging by the jerseys they wore, it had been taken just after a track competition. Around the picture were flowers. A lot of flowers. The young CSI guessed they had been the popular jock type.

Making their way into the gym, Greg lead the way into the male locker room. Ducking under the yellow crime scene tape, they surveyed the room. The scene looked much as it had the previous day. Only now the bodies had been removed, leaving four empty spaces on the locker room that were completely free of the blackened debris that coated the rest of the room.

The lights had been left on in the locker room, and Greg and Sara both set their kits down near the door, and got to work. They started at different ends of the room, carefully checking every possible place. Neither spoke, as they both started in on the daunting task of searching for the small, yet vital piece of missing evidence.

Shifting through some debris Sara heard Greg sigh loudly behind her. She turned her head to look at the eccentric young man who was squatted down across the room staring at the floor. "What's up Greg?"

"We're not going to find it are we?" It was strange but she was pretty sure she heard defeat and possibly even fear in the ever optimistic ex-tech's voice.

"If it's here will find it." She said forcefully. She knew Greg was worried he was going to get into trouble over this piece, she supposed in his place she would feel about the same, but she did not want him jumping to conclusions. It was just an accident, they could not hold him too accountable. She hoped.

"Sure." Greg mumbled turning his attention back to the area he was searching.

They continued working in the awkward silence that had fallen, for some time. Greg kept hoping that Sara would just burst out saying she had found it. Ever since they had realized they were missing a piece he had begun to feel worse and worse. Seeing the picture of the four dead boys had nearly killed him, their killer might never get found if they didn't find this piece and it would be all his fault.

The weirdest part was Greg still could not figure out how he could have lost a piece of evidence. Ever since he had failed his first proficiency test he had been paranoid he was going to get tossed back to the lab, which despite the better hours and less stress, was not what he wanted. He had been double checking everything he did in the field, since then, to avoid this exact situation.

It was Sara who finally broke the silence a while later. They had officially searched the entire locker room, twice. "I'm sorry Greg." She said standing up and rubbing the cramps out of her legs that she had gotten from crouching down for so long.

"Yeah," was all Greg mumbled as he too got up. "Well I guess that's it then, it's simply gone."

Sara shot him a sympathetic smile. "We'll make a case without it." She assured him. Together the two CSI's wearily headed back to the lab to deliver the disappointing results to their boss.

It did not surprise them when they found Grissom waiting in the hall for them when they arrived back at the lab. He did not look overly upset, but then his expression rarely gave away what he was really thinking. His listened quietly while Sara talked.

She had just finished telling the stoic entomologist of their unsuccessful return trip to the crime scene, when the man none of the three CSI wanted to see, rounded the corner. And by the expression on Conrad Ecklie's face, Sara concluded that Nolan had informed him of the situation.

"Gil." He said coldly greeting the night-shift supervisor.

"Conrad." Grissoms replay came equally as cold.

"Let's talk in your office." Ecklie said gesturing towards the ajar door nearby, "Sanders if you would join us." The tone of his voice indicated to the young spike-haired man that it was not a question, or even a request. "Excuse us, Miss Sidle," Ecklie added before following Grissom into his office.

With a desperate look at Sara, Greg reluctantly followed the two senior forensic analysts into Grissom's office. He shut the door behind him and stopped awkwardly just inside the door.

"Have a seat Sanders." Ecklie said as he walked around and stood just behind and off to the side of Grissom's large desk. Grissom remained standing near the door.

Greg hesitantly obliged Ecklie's request, sliding into the seat directly in front of his supervisor's desk. He did not like the tone that the 'conversation' was taking.

"Conrad," Grissom said controlling the dislike that wanted to seep into his voice. "I don't think this is a matter requiring your attention."

'You don't?" Eckile asked flatly, "Did you find the missing evidence?"

"No." Grissom replied slowly and was about to continue when Ecklie cut him off.

"Then this matter does require my attention. Gil, it is my job to oversee the lab, which like it or not, includes your team."

"What's left of them." Grissom retorted, clearly indicating his continued dislike for Ecklie and his recent dismantlement of the former night-shift. It worried Greg that Ecklie had dismantled the entire shift over a case that had wound up getting closed. If this case did not get closed because of the lost evidence, his job was as good as gone, he thought dismally.

Ecklie chose to ignore the comment as he continued, "Your CSI not only failed his proficiency test, and was given a second chance, but now he's lost key evidence."

The way there were talking about him, as if he was not even present, made Greg feel uncomfortable. Ecklie was pissed, and obviously looking for someone to blame for making the lab look bad. Unfortunately, Greg knew he was the one being blamed. Although, like it or not, Greg supposed it really was his fault. There had only been three CSI's there, Grissom had not even collected evidence and Nolan had denied it being his. That meant, whether he remembered it or not, it had to have been Greg's fault.

"It's not like Greg screwed up on purpose. He's human like the rest of us Conrad. We still have a case." Grissom did not know that for sure, but the rest of the bomb had been recovered, so it was likely the case could be closed without the trigger.

Ecklie sighed, "You're suspended Sanders." He said addressing Greg for the first time since he had told him to sit down. "Five days."

_You know,_ Greg mused to himself as Ecklie's words sunk in,_ I kinda preferred it when he was pretending I wasn't in the room. _

"But you watch it, Sanders, one more screw up like this and you'll be lucky to get your tech job back." Ecklie added, it was clear to both of the night-shift CSI's that he would have liked to just fire Greg now, however, he knew Grissom had a point. Lots of CSI's had made mistakes before. He could not fire Greg without at least one more incident. One that hopefully Greg would not provide.

Numbly, Greg just nodded. Ecklie seemed to be finished so he got up to leave. He cast a glance towards his boss, who wore the same unreadable expression as always, before he headed out into the hallway. Shortly later Grissom and Ecklie followed him out of the office.

He saw Sara a short distance down the hall. He wanted to tell her he was off the case, but she seemed to be engrossed in a conversation with Brass. Instead of waiting for them to finish he walked past them on his way out of the lab, catching a short snippet of their conversation.

"Yeah, he's a student at the school, a Derek Sanders." Brass said, looking down at the note pad he held, to answer a question Sara had asked, "He fits the profile, and we've got a witness placing him coming out of the locker room the evening before. He's in interview one now."


	5. Walk Away

Disclaimer: I don't own CSI, any of ther characters or plot lines. I do own my own ideas, and thats about it.

Zai: Thanks as always for the reviews, I've been on break for the last two weeks and I go back to school tomorrow, but I will try my best to keep the updates as frequent as possible.

- - - - - -

_Derek Sanders._ The words registered in Greg's mind. Had he really just heard Brass say his cousin was a suspect? His head spun as a rush of confused thoughts flew through his mind rapidly.

It was not until Archie bumped him while trying to get past him, that Greg realized he had stopped walking in the middle of the hall. He turned and looked behind him to where Sara and Brass where still conversing. Sara had her back to him and could not see him. However, Brass seemed to have noticed his sudden reaction judging by the puzzled look he shot the young CSI.

Slowly Greg turned back toward the lab's entrance and forced himself to continue out of the lab. Desperately, he fought the urge to rush back and find out exactly what he had overheard Brass say about his kid cousin 'fitting the profile.' _They cannot seriously think little Derek had anything to do with this._ He tried to tell himself. However, the only thing that actually kept him from going back was he knew that even if he was not suspended, if they found out Derek was his cousin, he would not be allowed anywhere near the investigation anyway.

As it was he was not sure he wanted to risk running into Ecklie either. If Ecklie found out he had stayed in the lab because he wanted to help his cousin... well Greg decided it was best not to dwell on things that were to be avoided.

Once outside in the lab's parking lot he made his way toward his car. His shift was not officially over yet and Greg figured he should try to look on the bright side, he had gotten off shift early for once. He also had some free time coming to him. Not that he wanted his free time to come in this form.

Getting into his car he paused before starting the motor. He did not want to go home yet. He was still too upset about the suspension and still shocked from hearing Brass say his youngest cousin was a suspect in his bombing case. Glancing at his watch he tried to figure out if Nick would be awake or not. His former team member had said he would be around if Greg needed to vent.

Hoping that he was not waking his friend, he dialed Nick's home number and waited as it rang several times. "Hello?" A mildly groggy Texan voice came over the line.

"I'm sorry if I woke you." Greg muttered sheepishly. "I was wondering if you wanted to grab some breakfast."

"Greggo?" Nick asked still half asleep as he looked at the clock near his bed, "Shouldn't you still be on shift?"

"Nah," Greg muttered, "I uh, got off early."

"Oh." Nick said not exactly believing that was the entire explanation, but not pressing the matter at the moment. Sitting up he decided that while he could have used another hour so in bed, Greg seemed to need to talk or he would not have phoned. "I'll meet you in about a half-hour, okay?"

"Sure." Agreed the younger man readily, "See you then." He added before hanging up the phone. He was once again extremely glad for the close friendship he had with the brown-haired Texan.

- - - - - -

Brass and Sara entered the small interview room and sat down across from the sixteen-year-old who was looking rather uncomfortable. He had dark brown hair, it was cut short but fairly unkept, not surprising for a teenager. He was quite fair-skinned and had light brown eyes.

Sitting down opposite the boy, Brass now noted that they boy did seem to share several features in common with Greg Sanders. When he had first seen the boy's name he had not made any sort of connection. Sanders after all was a common enough name. However, after seeing how Greg seemed to respond to the name, and now noting the striking similarities between the two men, Brass began to wonder if they could perhaps be related.

Sara had briefly explained to Brass about the piece of evidence Greg had apparently lost. Although he trusted all of Grissom's team he could not help wondering if in fact Greg losing evidence in a case involving a possible relative was all coincidental. Brass made a mental note to find out if they were actually related.

Before starting he glanced down at the notes he had taken. Derek had been seen exiting the male dressing room around 4:30 the night before the explosion. Apparently he had seemed rather on edge.

Derek was definitely a smart kid. He was in grade eleven, but was in several grade twelve courses in science and math, which placed him in several of the same classes with the four dead teens. According to the teacher's Brass had spoken to, they had not made life particular easy for the sixteen-year-old.

Starting the interview Brass asked the rather nervous looking teen if he had resented the older boys who had taken it upon themselves to make his life in high school miserable. And to explain his presence in the locker room the night before.

His responses were mumbled toward the table as the brown-haired teen refused to make eye contact with the two law-enforcement employees.

"I forgot something in my gym locker." He said answering Brass's second question.

Sara listened quietly while Brass continued questioning Derek. He seemed to have sufficient motive and opportunity. From what Brass had said, he was definitely capable of building a bomb. Hopefully that would be enough for a warrant. A search of his home and school locker might produce some left of materials from the bomb.

- - - - - -

Greg had just gotten a table when Nick arrived at the local restaurant where they often ate after shifts. "Hey Greg." Nick said sitting down across from him.

"Hey." Greg replied forcing himself to uphold some level of cheeriness, despite his upset. He turned his attention back to the menu.

Nick knew something was bothering the younger man but waited until they had both ordered to press the issue, "So what exactly happened?"

"What do you mean?"

"You getting off shift early, we both know that never happens." Nick said watching his spike-haired colleague in an attempt to read Greg's muddled emotions.

"Oh," Greg replied looking down for a long moment before adding, "Ecklie kicked me out of the lab."

"What?" Nick asked stunned, "What for?"

"Apparently I lost evidence." Came the muttered response, "He suspended me for the rest of the week."

"Lost evidence?" It was the first Nick had heard of the missing trigger piece so Greg filled him in on how they had noticed it missing in the lab and how Nolan insisted he had not collected it.

"I honestly don't see what could have happened to it." Greg ended, "I don't even remember it... well all the pieces kinda looked the same actually."

Nick shot him a sympathetic look, "Hey, it'll be okay. It's only one piece."

Their food arriving brought the conservation to semi-halt. Greg busied himself eating trying not to think of the other issue pressing on his mind. Finally finishing off his breakfast he laid down his fork. "You know that's not all."

Nick looked up at Greg curiously waiting for the duel-hair man to continue.

"I was on my way out of the lab and I heard Brass talking with Sara about a suspect. I know I'm off the case and all," Greg began rambling. "But I was just walking by, and he said the boy's name... And, it's my little cousin." He finally finished focusing his gaze down on his dirty plate rather then the wide brown eyes of his friend.

"Are you sure?" Nick asked and watched as Greg nodded sullenly.

"I thought I remembered that school when I was there the first time, and I remember why now. I went to my other cousin's graduation a few years back." Greg explained.

"Does the team know?" Nick asked breaking the short silence the two men had lapsed into.

Greg shrugged, "I didn't tell them. I didn't think it mattered since I'm already off the case with my suspension."

"Yeah, I guess it doesn't matter if your not working the case." Nick remarked as he got some money out to pay the bill. "I know it must be hard, but you're just going to have to stay away from the case and trust Grissom and the others."

Greg nodded, he knew Nick was right, and yet it did not make him feel any better about leaving when he knew his cousin had been sitting in that interview room. Handing Nick his share of the money he got up. "Thanks a lot Nick, for listening."

"No problem man," Nick said with his trademark broad smile, "That's what I'm here for."

Still bothered by the day's events, but relieved to have spoken them aloud to his friend, Greg headed out to his car. Even though he was not working tonight, he was more than ready to head home and go to bed.


	6. A Problem

Disclaimer: I don't own CSI, any of ther characters or plot lines. I do own my own ideas, and thats about it.

Zai: Okay not much Gregy in this chapter, but it is necessary I suppose. Hope you like it!

- - - - - -

It had not taken long for Brass to find the connection. Greg Sanders and Derek Sanders where cousins. He sighed. He had hoped he was wrong in his suspicion, but it was now undeniable.

Brass headed down the hall and stopped outside Grissom's office. He knocked lightly on the open door, "Gil?" He asked. The man in question was seated at his large wooden desk and appeared to be reading through a report.

Grissom looked up at the sound of his name, "Hello Jim."

Brass entered the office, making sure to shut the door behind him. "We have a problem." He stated flatly without preamble.

Looking up at him curiously Grissom waited for his friend and co-worker to elaborate.

"We've got a suspect in that school bombing, and it's Greg's cousin." Brass explained.

"But Greg's suspended, so it doesn't matter." Grissom stated confused as to why Brass was so worked up about this when Greg was not even allowed back to the lab for five days. The case would probably be cleared up by then.

"No, Gil," Brass countered, "It does matter. I know you don't think it's possible, but the evidence did go missing..." He trailed off as Grissom registered his implications.

Grissom shook his head. "Greg would not steal the evidence." He replied firmly.

Brass shrugged his shoulders. "Okay, but I seriously doubt Eckile is going to take your word for it if he finds out."

Considering this Grissom shook his head. Ecklie would probably jump to the worst possible conclusion. "Ecklie doesn't need to know." He said at last.

"No, but I can't guarantee he won't find out on his own. And if he does, Gil, be smart and tell him you didn't know. Because he will have your ass if he thinks you were purposely keeping him in the dark." With that Brass turned to leave when Grissom stopped him.

"Does Greg know?"

"He overheard me talking to Sara," Brass started, "So he knows we brought his cousin in to talk to anyway."

Grissom nodded, "Is he the main suspect?"

"Main and only." Brass said confirming Grissom's suspicion. "We just need to get a warrant to search his place." Brass added, he had just been about to ask for the warrant when he had found out that the boy was Greg's cousin. "Do you want me to come find you when I get one?"

"Yes." The grey-haired shift supervisor answered after a moment.

Brass nodded and headed off to go obtain the necessary warrant. From the eye-witness placing Derek coming out of the locker room, and the way the four deceased had bullied him, Brass did not think it would be hard to get.

- - - - - -

Greg was tired when he arrived back at his flat. However, he could not manage to get to sleep. Getting out of bed for the third time, Greg wandered into his living room. Flopping down on the couch restlessly he flicked on the tv.

In his mind he was going over the crime scene again. He tried desperately to see where he could have misplaced the evidence. If he had just forgotten to bag it, it would have been still at the locker room. But they had checked it over, it was not there. Unless it had gotten dropped somewhere between the scene and the car, Greg could not think of how else it could be missing.

Glancing back at the tv, Greg tried to tell himself to forget it. There was nothing he could do about the missing trigger now anyway. However, he knew he could not just forget it that easily. He had five days with which he would have nothing to do, but second guess himself.

Sighing he got up from the couch and passed around his living room. There was the whole other mater keeping him awake as well. His cousin. He wasn't very close with Derek as the boy was so many years younger than him, he was closer with Derek's two older siblings. However, he had still spent a fair amount of time around Derek when the boy was smaller.

As far as he could recall Derek had always been a sweet little kid. Rather quiet, but never even close to violent. He could not have coldly taken the lives of four of his class mates, could he? Greg shook his head and sat back down on his sofa.

Greg wished he knew more about what they had pointed to his cousin anyway. It could have just been a dead end for all he knew, here at home. He was tempted to phone Sara and ask her, but he knew Nick had been right in telling him to just stay away from the case.

Sighing he headed back to his bedroom. He was still extremely restless but he hoped he would now be tired enough to fall asleep. Not that it really mattered when he woke up, since he did not have work that night.

- - - - - -

Grissom, Brass, and Sara waiting outside the homely looking house. It was only a few blocks away from the highschool in what appeared to be a quiet neighbourhood. The street was a long row of nearly identical houses. All were three floors and some painted some off-white colour. Most had neatly cut front lawns and whitewashed front porches.

Brass knocked loudly on the door and waited. After a moment it was opened by a man who appeared to in his late forties, he also shared similar features to Greg Sanders. He seemed to recognize Brass from when he had come to question Derek earlier and he asked coldly, "Can I help you?"

Brass handed him the warrant, "Sara Sidle and Gil Grissom," he said introducing his colleagues to the man, "They are from the crime lab, and they are going to need to see Derek's room, and any common areas in the house." He informed him in accordance to the warrant.

Derek's father scowled, clearly disliking that his son was the focus of their investigation, but moved aside to let the three members of law-enforcement enter his house. "Go ahead." He said pointing to the stairs. "Derek's room is the first door on the right."

Nodding, Sara and Grissom headed upstairs and opened the door leading into a surprisingly neat teenager's bedroom. There was a desk in one corner sporting a decent looking computer. The bed was on the opposite side of the room just below a dark curtained window.

Sara began in the closet near the door, while Grissom started by the desk. It did not take long before Sara called Grissom over. "This looks familiar." Sara said pointing out a dismantled clock, which had parts that looked very similar to the timing device they had recovered from the clock.

"Bag it." Grissom said as he returned to the other side of the room. Even the drawers and under the bed were organized so the search went quite quickly.

However, they turned up nothing more in Derek's room, so taking the clock they headed out to examine the main rooms in the rest of the house. The did not find anything else significant until they reached the garage. There they found several tools that they gathered to try an match to the tool marks on different parts of the bomb.

Having completed as thorough of a search they were allowed to under the scope of the warrant, they took what they had gathered and met up with Brass. "All done?" He asked.

"Yeah." Sara replied as they headed out to the car.

Back at the lab Grissom took the tools and headed off to see if he could match any of them while Sara got the clock parts. She was just coming out of the evidence room when she nearly ran into the tall blonde day-shift CSI. "Hey." She said slightly surprised to see him since his shift should not have started yet.

"Hey." Nolan replied.

"What are you doing here early?" She asked trying to make polite conversation.

He shrugged his broad shoulders. "Ecklie asked to see me." He explained, "So how's the case going?" He asked abruptly changing the subject.

"Good. We have a suspect actually." Sara answered. "Just running comparisons now." She added holding up the clock.

"So it looks like that missing piece isn't going to matter after all?" He said in a half questioning tone.

"No, hopefully not. Although Greg did get suspended over it." She muttered darkly.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." Nolan stammered looking away. "Well I'd better go." He said turning and heading off down the hall.

Sara watched his retreating figure disappear around a corner before she returned to the task at hand of comparing the clock and timing device. She headed into the evidence room and took out both pieces.


	7. Call for Help

Disclaimer: I don't own CSI, any of ther characters or plot lines. I do own my own ideas, and thats about it.

Zai: Thanks all for the reviews. I'll be gone all weekend, but I'll try to get an update up early next week.

- - - - - -

Sitting around the evidence table the tall brunette looked up to find her boss standing in the doorway. He came in and sat down across from her, "So how did you fare?" He questioned looking at the clock she had before her.

Sara shrugged her shoulders. "It definitely looks like the same clock, but the pieces from the scene are rather melted. It's hard to confirm."

"Well, that's better than what I got. Which is that none of the tools found at the house seem to match the tool marks on the pieces recovered at the scene." Grissom said with a sigh.

"Well, we still haven't checked his locker." Sara said hopefully. "I wonder if he had access to tools in the school's shop classroom."

Her grey-haired boss seemed to consider it before saying, "Even if we do match one of them to the bomb, that won't prove it was Derek. Other people have access to them too"

"So we don't have much." Sara mused.

The two colleagues fell silent looking at the inconclusive evidence on the table before them. Both drifted off to their own thoughts, trying to sort out what they knew and where this latest development left them. Neither of them noticed as the lab's supervisor arrived.

"Gil." Ecklie's cold voice sounded from the open doorway, jolting both CSI's from their thoughts and causing them to turn toward the sound.

"Yes, Conrad?" Grissom replied impassively, he had an sinking feeling that he knew exactly why Ecklie was there. However, he did not care to let Ecklie know that.

Ecklie stormed into the room holding a file tightly in one hand. "He's your suspect's cousin." Ecklie began clearly only just retaining his calm. "Did you think I wouldn't realize? Sanders didn't lose that damn evidence, he destroyed it trying to save his cousin."

The stunned look that appeared on the face of the dark haired CSI clearly indicated that it was the first Sara was hearing of the relation between Derek and Greg. Grissom looked less surprised. Facing Ecklie from where he sat he shook his head. "You have no evidence of that Conrad. We don't even have any evidence Greg's cousin even built the bomb." Grissom said calmly.

Ecklie scowled darkly. It was true, if they could not prove that Derek even caused the explosion then there would be no way for him to prove that Sanders did destroy the evidence in an attempt to cover for his kid cousin. "I want this figured out, missing evidence makes the lab look bad temporarily. A CSI destroying evidence permanently ruins the lab's reputation."

"Greg wouldn't do that." Sara protested, however her protest fell on deaf ears as Ecklie did not even acknowledge that she had spoken.

"I'm putting Nolan on this case. You three had better sort this mess out. And if the slightest thing points to Sanders removing the evidence, I'm having him brought in." Ecklie stated leaving no chance for the two night shift CSI's to respond as he left the room.

Sara stared blankly after him still shocked as to what she had just heard. She wondered absently why she had not made the connection between Derek and Greg. Grissom had seemed aware of the situation, however Sara was not positive if that was in fact the case, or if her supervisor was just being his usual stoic self.

After a moment Grissom got up from the table and headed toward the evidence room's door. Sara looked up, calling out before he left, "Where are you going?"

"To find Fairer. He needs to get brought up to speed, then the three of us can head back to the school. We need to run through Derek's locker and check the shop class." He replied without turning back to face her.

- - - - - -

The nearby ringing of the phone woke Greg from the light sleep he had lapsed into on his living room couch. Across the room the tv was on quietly in the background, playing some old soap. Groggily Greg reached for the phone. "Hello?" He asked, unsure who would be calling him at this hour. But after a moment, he realized he had no idea exactly what hour it was.

"Greg?" Came the female voice on the other end.

"Yes, speaking," He mumbled still not fully awake.

"Greg, its Aunt Pauline." His aunt said slowly. "I know I really shouldn't be asking you... but you do work at the crime lab and I know you probably aren't supposed to talk about cases." She said started to ramble sounding very concerned, causing Greg to sit up, now awake and worried that maybe Derek had been arrested.

"But its just that the crime lab people were here. They went through all of Derek's stuff and they wouldn't tell us what was going on. They think Derek set a bomb?"

"Whoa, slow down." Greg said interrupting her as she began to speak too fast for him to follow.

"I just need to know if you know anything about the case. Please Greg?"

"I'm really sorry. I'm not on the case." He said, not bothering to add 'anymore'.

"But can't you find out?" She asked desperately. "How can they think my son is a killer? I just need to know what is happening, they're not going to... to arrest him are they?" She sounded close to tears now and Greg realized that while Derek had not been arrested the investigation was clearly centred on him and it was obviously tearing his aunt apart. "He hasn't done anything. Derek could never..."

"I know Aunt Pauline." Greg said trying to calm her down. "But I'm actually off work for the next few days." He did not feel like fully explaining his suspension to her right now, she had far more important things on her mind. "So I really don't know what is going on, but I'll phone you if I hear anything, okay?"

"Okay," she sounded reluctant to end the conversation without anything new but she finally added, "Thank you anyway, Gregory." She said sadly before disconnecting the phone.

Sighing Greg dropped the phone back on the table. It looked like he was wrong in his hopes that their questioning of Derek was just a long-shot dead end. He wondered if he should phone Sara and try to get case details from her.

However, if they knew that Derek was his cousin they wouldn't be able to tell him anything, anyway. He decided not to bother, if they did not already know Derek was his cousin his phoning and asking would likely clue them in. Not that he was trying to hide the fact, but he knew staying away from the case was the best thing he could do now. _After all,_ he thought miserably,_ I already lost evidence. I need to stay away like Nick said. _

However, now that he was up, he was quite certain he was not going to get back to sleep any time soon. He wished he could be at work tonight, even just working in the lab. The suspension forcing him out of the lab left him sitting at home, wondering about the case, with nothing to take his mind off everything.


	8. Shouldn't Be

Disclaimer: I don't own CSI, any of ther characters or plot lines. I do own my own ideas, and thats about it.

Zai: Okay so about the wait, and about the short chapter, but I'm going away again this weekend and I wanted to update before I left. Anyway, please read and review as all ways.

- - - - - -

It was still dark when the three criminologists arrived, once again, at the high school. However, this time they did not head to the still-taped-off locker room. Grissom, armed with metal cutters and a locker number, set out toward the stairway. Derek's locker was on the upper floor of the school.

The two remaining CSI's headed down to an added wing at the far back of the school that housed the shop and tech classes. They had borrowed the keys from the janitor, allowing them full access to all the tools.

Not necessarily comfortable working with Nolan, Sara started at the opposite end of the large shop class. It was not that she did not think he was a good CSI, she was just naturally distrustful. Especially of people who seemed to be as close with Ecklie as she suspected the green-eyed man was.

They worked in silence. Sara was dedicated to all her cases, but some more than others. And by how this one was affecting a close friend of hers, she immersed herself fully into the case.

As expected in a highschool shop, there was an entire class set of each type of tool. However, many of them Sara could rule out at the scene. They were either the wrong type or clearly the wrong size. Finding a complete set of wrenches that looked similar to a set of markings on the bomb she began to bag each wrench separately.

Absorbed in her work, she did not notice as Grissom walked in behind them. He cleared his throat and she turned around slightly startled. Across the room the tall fair-skinned CSI also turned to look at Grissom expectantly.

"Sara, you had a good look at that trigger picture right?" Grissom asked holding out an evidence bag to her. "Look familiar?"

She took the bag and looked down at the piece. It definitely looked like the picture, except it was chipped. It looked to her as though Derek had made this one first, and having accidentally broken it, had been forced to make a second one. "Yeah." She muttered nodding, "Only we have nothing to actually match it to." She added as an after thought.

Grissom said nothing as he took the bag back, he knew as well as she did a visual comparison to a photograph would not hold up in court. Their only chance was to march one of these tools to the bomb and to Derek. Setting the bag down with his kit, Grissom joined his younger colleagues in bagging the potential tools.

- - - - - -

Greg found himself in the lab parking lot. He had not meant to come back to the lab. He had just not been able to stand it alone in his apartment anymore. He had gone for a drive, trying to sort out everything that was going on, but now he was here - at the lab.

He knew he should just get back into his car and leave, but he could not. He needed to know what was going on with the case, _with his cousin's case._ It was so hard to accept that this case was not just other people's lives. This time it was his family, his cousin, who was being dragged into all this.

_What if Derek really did kill those boys_? The sudden thought make Greg feel slightly nauseous. He had watched his cousin grow up, he had never been violent, how could all that have changed so drastically?

The usually over-cheerful young man felt anything but, running his hand through his spastically styled hair he turned away from the lab. If he went in there now and Ecklie saw him, he would probably be out of a job. He sighed wearily, everything was just so confusing. He had apparently lost evidence, and it would not turn up anywhere, and then his cousin becomes the subject of the investigation. He was about to get back into his car when he saw a car turning into the lot. Instantly he recognized it as Grissom's.

Clearly the hyper-observant older man noticed him as he pulled the car into an empty space only a few feet from where Greg stood by his own car. Sara was out of the passenger side of the car almost before the engine was cut.

"Greg, what are you doing here?" She asked concerned.

Half-heartedly, Greg shrugged. "I know I shouldn't be here, I just couldn't stop think about the case and all." He muttered as Grissom stepped out of the car and came to stand beside Sara. "I just wanted to know if you'd found anything more..."

Opening her mouth to speak, Sara found herself being cut off by Grissom. "You know we can't tell you about the case Greg." He reasoned quietly. "You shouldn't even be here."

"I know." The newest field analyst muttered looking down.

The three members from the night-shift stood in the lab parking lot silently for a moment. It was Grissom who spoke up at last, "Go home Greg. Try to enjoy your time off, even if it's not under the best circumstances." With that said, he turned back to his car and unloaded his kit and some evidence bags.

Sara gave Greg a sympathetic look before turning and helping her boss. They only had about half of the tools they had collected, the other half had been placed in Nolan's car, which Sara noted was now parked significantly closer to the lab's front entrance.

Shooting a last look over her shoulder toward the ex-DNA technician, who now stood alone in the parking lot, Sara followed Grissom toward the lab. The usually impassive entomologist did not even look back.

Greg watched them go and leaned back against the side of his car. He had known they could not tell him about the case. His cousin was their chief suspect, and he understood how the lab had to work. However, it still hurt to know that they would not tell him. It made him feel like he was on the outside, and they could not trust him with the information they gathered. Kicking his tire in frustration, Greg got back into his car and sat behind the wheel. Staring at the lab he wondered what the team would be doing now.


	9. Can't Be

Disclaimer: I do not own CSI, its characters or its plots. I do however own my own ideas, as wacked out as they may be.

Zai: I am really, really sorry, for putting this story on hold like I did. I know it is frustrating to read a story and then have it not end. Well I finally forced myself to sit down and end at least this one. Since I have too many things going at once. Well here you go, a double update, to sorta kinda make up for not updating . . . I hope. Anyway for anyone who hasn't given up on this story, I would love to hear your reviews, even if it's just you complaining about how long this took.

- - - - - -

"We've got a match." Sara called out looking up from the comparison she had been making of tool marks from the bomb and from the ones made by a tool from the school shop class. Nolan and Grissom looked up from where they had been working across the room.

_It was definitely looking like Greg's cousin was guilty._ The thought bothered Sara, but it was what the evidence was telling her. Grissom came over to see what she had matched. "You get anything off the tool?"

"Multiple prints, most too smudged to yield a result." Sara replied.

"Not really surprising," Nolan pointed out, "After all, it is from a shop classroom."

"Yeah." Sara agreed trying not to let on that she was becoming frustrated. First the trigger piece goes mysteriously missing, then Greg gets suspended. And now his cousin looked guilty, only they cannot actual prove it without said missing piece. And to top it all off, mister I-have-an-answer-for-everything was starting to get on her nerves. Although, she decided, it was probably more that she suspected he was an Ecklie ass-kisser, than anything else.

"I'll let Brass know." Grissom said coming to the same conclusion that Sara had about them not being able to go any further with the evidence that they still possessed. "Maybe he can get some answers out of the suspect." He deliberately used the term suspect, not really wanting to think of the likely killer of four boys as Greg's cousin. With that said, he made his way out of the room.

"You think we'll get him, er, you know even without that piece?" Nolan asked trying to sound uninterested.

"I don't know." Sara replied with a sigh, still feeling distrustful towards golden-haired day-shift CSI. Finishing off with the remainder of the evidence they had collected, Sara headed off to the break room, carrying the case folder with her, hoping for some miraculous inspiration. On the way, she spotted Nick walking down the hallway.

"Hey," She called out, wondering why the newly appointed swing-shift CSI was at the lab in the middle of day shift. Had she not worked here as long as she had, she might also have wondered why she too was at work in the middle of day shift.

"Oh Sara, Hey." Nick said coming to walk with her towards the break room. "You're here late."

"And you're here early." She replied.

Nick shrugged, "I guess we both need a hobby." He headed straight to the coffee pot, and Sara guessed that he was still not adjusted to his new hours. "So that bombing you guys are working?" He asked casually, "Is it as bad as it sounds, you know, Greg's cousin?"

Sara sighed. "Looks like it." She admitted. "But you know that piece that went missing?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"That might be our only definite connection between suspect and bomb, without it, we might not be able to make our case." She poured her own cup of coffee, not that she much liked the taste that came from the economy sized boxes that the lab supplied.

"Damn." Nick muttered. "And you still have no idea where it could have gone?"

Sara shrugged, "We went over everything with a fine tooth comb, it's just gone." She fell silent for a moment before adding quietly, "Ecklie thinks Greg destroyed it."

Nick paled considerably. "That's not possible." He shot back.

"Hey, I know that." Sara replied defensively. "I'm just telling you what Ecklie said. If we don't figure out what the heck happened to it, Greg could be in real trouble."

"You know. . ." Nick said thoughtfully, "Unless you can prove that Greg's cousin did set that bomb, Ecklie had no evidence to back his theory about Greg destroying it. And without the supposedly destroyed piece, you can't prove it was Greg's cousin."

"Well, we can't prove anything yet. Brass is taking another crack at the kid, so if he confesses. . . well, then Ecklie is going to go after Greg."

Nick sighed and stared down at the dark liquid in his coffee cup._ How could all this be happening to Greg?_ Greg had become one of his best friends, and he could not even wrap his head around Greg getting suspended let alone losing his job. . . and it was not even the suspension, Nick realized. It was that he could not see Greg actually losing evidence. . . _He could not even remember taking the photo_. Nick though with a strange nauseous feeling growing in the pit of his stomach. _Which means he was even more out of it than we both thought. . . or he was never near the piece to begin with._

"Sara?" Nick asked deciding to voice his thoughts, but before he managed to say anything, a blonde man that Nick vaguely recognized as a day shift CSI stuck his head in the door, "Never mind." He said quietly. Sara looked at him questioningly but did not press it.

"Hey, Sidle." Nolan said from the doorway, "Uh, Detective Brass was looking for you, he needs your report on the tool marks."

"Okay, thanks Fairer." She replied standing and grabbing the report she had placed beside her on the table. "Well, see you later then, Nick."

"Yeah." He said watching the two leave him alone in the room. He picked up his cell phone and dialled a familiar number.

After two rings Greg's voice came over the line. "Sanders."

Nick almost smiled, amused at how, even when he knew it would not be work phoning Greg answered that way out of habit. "Hey Greg."

"Nick, hey. What's up?"

"Not much, I was just thinking. . ." Greg faked a shocked gasp on the other end of the phone and this time Nick did smile. Even though Greg had to be feeling miserable, with the suspension, and his cousin, he still managed to hide it under his goofy front. "Funny." He mumbled aloud. "Anyway, ever since I talked to you the other day, this has been bothering me. You said you did not remember even taking the picture of that trigger right?"

On the other end of the phone Greg was silent for a minute. _What as he trying to get at?_ "Well no, I said they all looked the same. I was. . . er, a little distracted." He admitted, he had trying to avoid the issue, but since his suspension, he had been thinking about it. A lot. And the only thing that made any sense to him was he had been too distracted by the memories of the lab explosion.

"Yeah," Nick consented. "But I mean what if wasn't you that took the shot?"

"Well, Nolan said that he didn't." Greg replied, still confused by Nick's questions.

"Well what if he did?"

"Why would he lie?" Greg asked bewilderedly.

"I don't know." Nick replied. "Not lie maybe, but maybe he forgot?"

"I don't know Nick." Greg replied. "I mean I wish it wasn't me, but the truth is I was distracted, you know that. And as much as I hate to admit it, it's the only thing that makes sense." Greg's sounded tired, "Besides, it's not the suspension that bothers me you know? It's more that I let something that happened two years ago, affect my work."

Nick was silent. Greg had sounded resigned to the fact that he had messed up, but Nick just couldn't believe that. He knew that Greg was a great CSI, no matter what he had been thinking about, he would not have taken a picture of the evidence and then not followed the rest of procedure exactly.

"Listen, Nick, I appreciate the thought, but my suspension will be over soon anyway so I guess there is no real point in dwelling over it. I'll see you when I get back." He said hanging up his phone.

"Greg wait." Nick called into his phone, having just remembered Sara's warning about Ecklie. But Greg was already gone. He sighed and closed his phone. Maybe it was best if he did not tell Greg, it was not like he could do anything about it anyway. It would just add to his worries, which under the current circumstances were already more numerous than he deserved.

- - - - - -

Sara was making her way down the hall, when she spotted Ecklie and Grissom talking in the doorway of Grissom's office. Ecklie looked pissed, but both men were keeping their voices low, and even straining, she could not make out the words.

She still had to get the file to Brass so she did not have time to linger, but she could tell from the two men's defensive stances, that she would not have liked what was being said anyway.

"Gil, I'm sorry that he is your CSI." Ecklie was saying, sounding anything but. "However, if I let this slide, it is the lab's reputation that will be tarnished."

"Listen to yourself Conrad." Grissom replied coldly, "You've already tried and convicted him of evidence tampering, when you don't even know if his cousin is guilty of the bombing."

"I just read your report." Ecklie reminded him getting angry. "You matched the tool marks to the bomb, you found the parts of the timer in his room."

"All circumstantial. The tool was from a shop class." Grissom replied.

"The DA is filling." Ecklie said ignoring Grissom. "If Detective Brass gets a confession, all the better, if not," Ecklie shrugged, "Well then it goes to trial."

"And he'll walk." Grissom said quietly.

"You think he's innocent?" Ecklie gawked.

"I think the evidence we have does not prove one way or the other. At least not conclusively."

"And that is the fault of your newest field CSI, desperately trying to cover his cousin's tracks." Ecklie said before turning to leave. "I'm having Sanders brought in. If he admits it, and agrees to testify at the trial, then I'll talk to the DA about not charging him with accessory after the fact and obstruction."

Grissom stared after the retreating Ecklie and rubbed the bridge of nose wearily. He had a sinking feeling that Ecklie's version of having Greg 'brought it' even if his only intentions were to talk, would not be pleasant. With a sigh, he tried to understand how this entire case had spun so far out of control.


	10. The Final Straw

Disclaimer: I don't own CSI, the character or their plots. I own my own ideas only.

Zai: Part two of the double update. Also the final chapter. Enjoy.

- - - - - -

Greg looked up as a sharp knock came on his door. He had been lying on the couch, staring into nothingness for some time. In fact, he had not really done much since Nick had phoned him. . . _When had that been? _He shook his head it did not matter, what he had told Nick still stood. He knew it had to be his fault. _Then why had the possibility that Nolan was wrong been digging at him for the past few hours?_

The knock came again, louder this time. Sighing, Greg swung his legs off the side of the sofa and moved towards the door. "Jeez, I'm coming." he muttered under his breath. Opening the door he found two uniformed cops standing on his doorstep. He looked at them confused, "Can I help you?"

"Greg Sanders?" The taller of the two asked.

"Yes. . ." Greg said slowly, an odd feeling rising in his gut.

"We need you to come with us sir." The tall one continued.

"What?" Greg stammered confused.

"Sir, you need to come with us." The officer repeated authoritatively.

Greg took an involuntary step backwards into his apartment. "I don't think I want to go anywhere until you explain what is going on." He replied, hoping he did not sound as nervous as he felt. _This is ridiculous_, he screamed at himself, _you have no reason o be nervous, you did not do anything wrong. Then why didn't it feel that way?_

"Sir," the other cop started now, sounding tired. "I'm sorry but you do not have a choice in this matter."

Trained to be ever observant, Greg did not miss the slight movement of the officer's had towards the handcuffs hanging from his belt. "Am. . . Am I under arrest?" Greg stuttered, _this can not be happening. . . _

"No." The taller officer was speaking again. "Not at this time, but there are some questions that we need to ask you. So if you would accompany us now?" He asked gesturing to the hall.

_Not at this time. . .?_ Greg felt himself going numb. _What was that supposed to mean?_ He must have stood there not moving for some time, because one of the cops reached out and took hold of his arm. The contact jolted Greg into motion and he grabbed his keys from the nearby hook, with his free arm, and moved out into the hall way.

The cop looking at him questioningly, and Greg nodded to indicate that he would come without any more protest. The officer released his arm, but both stayed close as they made their way outside. "We are parked just over here." The tall cop said leading the way over to their parked squad car. The shorter, impatient one, held the rear door open.

Reluctantly, feeling more and more like he was being arrested, Greg climbed into the back of the vehicle. At least they had not cuffed him, he concluded miserably._ This week just seems to be getting worse and worse. _

The drive was made in uncomfortable silence. And Greg let himself drift off into aimless thoughts again.

It was not until they stopped in the lab parking lot, that Greg's thoughts came back to his current situation. Oddly the only thought that came to his mind at the moment was, _I'm not supposed to be at the lab_. That thought was quickly followed by another, _Get a grip Sanders, your suspension is the least of your problems right now_.

The two cops lead him down the familiar halls, and he knew where they were headed long before they arrived. Tall cop opened the room the interrogation room and let Greg pass him. "Have a seat. A detective will be with you shortly." He explained, rather unnecessarily, Greg thought, and then left.

With a sigh, Greg sat down in the uncomfortable metal chair and drummed his fingers absently on the table. Slowly he glanced around the room, and stopped short as he caught sight of the two way mirror. He had stood behind that mirror often enough, watching suspects squirm, and now he wondered who was behind it watching him.

He hated the thought that any of his team mates and friends could be out there. _Did they at least know what was going on? Because he sure as hell did not. _

- - - - - -

It was almost time for the swing shift to come in, and Sara was still here. She yawned tiredly and splashed some water on her face from the break room sink. She wished this case could just be over and behind them, but she knew it was not going to happen that simply.

Brass had just brought Derek Sanders back in, and they were currently staring each other down in an interrogation room. They sure had a lot of circumstantial evidence on him, but Sara wondered if that would be enough.

She heard footsteps coming down the hall and turned to look. Warrick and Nick appeared in the doorway. Nick looked pale and Warrick looked confused. "Sara!" Nick called spotting her."Is it true?"

"What?" She asked bewildered, having no idea what Nick was talking about.

"Greg, did Ecklie really have him arrested?" Nick blurted.

"What!" Her voice sounded shrill even to her. She started out into the hall even before she knew what she was doing. Finally she seemed to register enough information to head towards the interrogation rooms, Nick and Warrick close on her heels.

When they arrived they found Grissom, leaning against the back wall of the observation room, with a grim expression on his usually unreadable face. "Where's Greg?" Sara demanded coming into the room, followed by the two former night shift CSI's. None of the three bothered to shut the door behind them. Grissom looked up, slightly startled to see them. He nodded toward the glass.

Inside the room Greg was fidgeting in a chair, a look of utter confusion on his face. Across from him Ecklie and Detective Vega sat. Vega was talking now, his words coming through to the observation room, clearly through the speaker, "I understand he is your cousin. But understand that if you tell us about the missing piece now, we will talk to the DA."

Nick made a disgusted noise. He knew this was bullshit. There was no way Greg would deliberately remove a piece of evidence, he believed that even less than he believed that Greg had lost the piece in the first place, and he said so. "This isn't right Gris. Greg did not take that piece."

"I know." Grissom replied quietly. "I'm just hoping I can find some way to make Conrad see that." _At least I managed to convince him not to make it an official arrest, _Grissom thought. If nothing else it saved Greg's job for the time being.

Greg started to speak and all four turned their attentions back to the room before them. "I don't know what happened to it." Greg was saying now. Ecklie snorted, clearly unbelieving. "Look, I didn't even know my cousin was a suspect at the time, how, how could I have known to take the piece?" He asked, more directed towards Vega as Ecklie seemed to have already made his decision on the matter.

"Sidle," Nolan said catching sight of her through the open door, "Brass isn't gettin-" He stopped mid-sentence as he noticed what they were all watching. "What's . . . uh, what's going on?" He asked his voice sounding usually unsteady.

Sara turned to look at him. "What you don't know?" She asked, not bothering to cover her dislike, "Your boss is trying to get Greg to admit to evidence tampering."

Nolan, Sara noted looked oddly pale. "But he just lost it, I thought he got suspended." Nolan stammered, "Why, why would he have uh, tampered with it?"

Several things occurred to Sara at once. One, Nolan clearly knew nothing of the suspect being Greg's cousin. Two, for someone who nothing about a missing trigger piece, he looked a lot like he was feeling guilty about something. And three he looked like he was not really interested in staying for an answer.

"You bastard." She snarled.

The three men in the room, who had only half been listing to their conversation turned to look now.

"Wha-" Nolan stammered trying to regain control over his facial expression and faltering voice.

"You were the one who lost the piece." She moved towards him threateningly. And he took a step back.

"I don't-" He started but Sara cut him off again.

"You were going to let Greg take the blame for you. You just didn't expect it to go any further than a cursory investigation. At worst he'd get suspended. Only it didn't turn out like that, since his cousin is our suspect, Ecklie's got it in his head this is all some sinister cover-up."

"Cousin?" Nolan muttered confused.

Sara was yelling now but she could not help herself, "And even seeing him in there, getting interrogated by them you still weren't going to speak up were you?"

The interrogation room door swung open, and a very pissed off looking Ecklie emerged. Undoubtedly trying to find out who was screaming in his hallway and interrupting his interrogation. Grissom, Warrick and Nick had moved into the hallway too, and were all just watching the scene unfolding before them.

Sara, oblivious to her audience, was to mad to care even she had noticed. "You bastard Fairer! You'd let him go to jail just so you wouldn't have to admit it was you that screwed up wouldn't you?"

Nolan, however had very much noticed his audience. Unfortunately for him, there seemed very little he could do about it. Sara seemed about ready to claw his throat out and all other eyes in the hall were on him.

Greg, having caught the last part of Sara's rant got up and came to stand a short distance behind Ecklie. _What the hell was going on now?_ His befuddled mind wondered.

"I didn't think. . . I mean his cousin?" Nolan stuttered not making a whole lot of sense. "It was just so easy, and it was just a suspension and a write-up." Nolan said with a sigh. "I didn't. . . didn't expect this."

"What?" Greg exploded now. Days of pent up frustrations came pouring out. "You let me take the fall for your mistake?"

Nolan hung his head refusing to look at the young CSI whose life he had come precariously close to ruining.

A heavy silence fell in the hall for a minute and Greg finally spoke up again, "Why?"

"I. . . I already have two write-ups." Nolan muttered to his shoes. "One more and I'd probably loose my job."

Ecklie could not really believe what he was hearing. He took a deep breath, hoping he would not have to talk to Gil for a very long time after this. "What happened to the piece Fairer?"

"It, well, it broke." Nolan replied.

Greg started to tune out. The thoughts rushing through his mind drawing all his focus. Everything had happened so fast, Greg was having a hard time wrapping his mind around it all. _Ecklie had actually thought that he had destroyed evidence? What about his friends, why were they all here? _Then just as abruptly as these thoughts had begun, his mind shifted tracks, _what about Derek? Had he really killed four kids?_

Mostly without his notice, the scene in the hallway had broken up. Ecklie and Nolan had disappeared to Ecklie's office, to 'discuss' the matter further. No one expected much discussion to take place, Ecklie just preferred to fire people from there.

Vega had also made himself scarce, probably had work to do. Which reminded both Warrick and Nick that their shift was starting, so they headed off to. Leaving only Sara, Grissom and a very confused Greg standing alone in the hall.

"You okay Greg?" Sara asked quietly.

He shrugged. "I guess I am now." He replied distantly. "I never thought I lost that piece." He said and with that he turned and started walking down the hall. He only made it as far as the next interview room, because through the open observation room door he caught sight of his little cousin and froze in place.

Brass was seated across the table from him, various pictures and evidence bags were laid across the table. Derek ignored them, staring instead straight ahead. Greg starred back, although he knew the teen could not see him. And what he saw made him shiver violently. Derek's eyes seemed so dead. Greg stared through the glass for a while longer, searching, almost desperately for a tiny glimmer of the little boy he had known and called family. But all he found was the cold hard eyes staring back

- fin -

Zai: Okay, so I don't really know what anyone thinks of this ending. I have such a hard time writing them. So please, review and tell me what you thought, of my story as a whole and the ending. Thank you for bearing with me, I hope you liked it.


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